Into the West
by Le Ginamal
Summary: This is a short version of a longer chapter fic I'll eventually post.  It's a song fic, I just thought the song matched well and i didn't want to write for too long.  Anyways, it's Jou/Seto, but nothing explicite in this at all.  Enjoy!


So, I had to write something, and I've been reading Yu-Gi-Oh fan fics lately, so this one happens to be Seto/Jou. I've got a longer version of this in my head, but I haven't had the time to write it down, and this is basically a shortened version of it, with a song I thought applied; well, it got stuck in my head, and it worked, so yeah. On to the story! Reviews please?

I don't own Yugioh, or the song I'm using(Into the West, from LotR, RotK), just in case any of you thought so…

_

* * *

__Lay down your sweet and weary head  
Night is falling. You have come to journey's end.  
Sleep now. Dream of the ones who came before.  
They are calling from across a distant shore.  
_

Seto picked Jou out of the alley way next to the apartment building he had previously inhabited. Jou had been relieved and worried about Seto arriving there, but all the worry had been replaced by comfort as Seto held him gently, lulling him to sleep in the after phases of the adrenaline high he had experienced just moments before.

When he woke he had loads of messages on his phone from his friends. They asked all sorts of questions, like, why hadn't he been in school that day, what was going on, and why had Kaiba sounded so angry on the phone when he had called them asking for information on his dad? Jou had no idea exactly where he was, but he hoped he could stay for awhlile.

_Why do you weep? What are these tears upon your face?  
Soon you will see all of your fears will pass away.  
Safe in my arms, you're only sleeping.  
_

Seto came in later, waking him from a nightmare. Seto wiped the tears from his face, and sat next to him. He held him when the tears wouldn't stop, just sat and embraced him, making Jou feel more secure than he had in years.

"Don't worry," Seto said to him, "He's being put away; you'll never see him ever again. I'll keep you safe here."

_What can you see on the horizon?  
Why do the white gulls call?  
Across the sea, a pale moon rises.  
The ships have come to carry you home.  
And all will turn to silver glass.  
A light on the water, all souls pass.  
_

This time Jou slept soundly. Seto had stayed with him until he was asleep, keeping him warm, making sure he was comfortable. Jou didn't know how he had the time to do so, but didn't think about it. He dreamed about a person made of moonlight and a boat that floated across the glassy water of the lake, seemingly without propulsion. He felt like he had passed some sort of boundary when he awoke, and went downstairs and ate breakfast without even thinking how strange it was that he was wandering around his rival's, Seto's, house without a care in the world. It was entirely too surreal, but Jou found that he didn't much care.

_Hope fades into the world of night  
Through shadows falling out of memory and time._

_Don't say we have come now to the end.  
White shores are calling. You and I will meet again.  
And you'll be here in my arms, just sleeping.  
_

Months afterwards Jou had nearly forgotten how he had even gotten to the mansion. He had been thinking about his friends for a while now, and though he liked staying with Seto, and they had become friends in time, he still felt closer to the others. Seto needed to run his business, after all, and Yugi and his Grandpa had offered on more than one occasion to house Jou. So Jou thought he might stay a while closer to his friends so that he could be a little more with them. Seto seemed alright with it when he had talked to him, perhaps a little more distant than Jou had gotten used to, but he hadn't objected. Jou had begun packing slowly that evening; Yugi was picking him up in the morning with all his friends.

What Jou didn't know was that Seto had been heartbroken by Jou's announcement. Over their time together, he had grown fond of the other in more ways than he could comfortably show to the other. He wanted to be close like he was with Mokuba, but in so many other ways, too. He didn't want Jou as a brother, he realized, he wanted him as a friend, a counterpart, more. He could feel his heart shattering as Jou left the next morning, watching his unrequited love's departure from a high window of the mansion. He felt the emptiness and cold consume him as he lay alone in his bed that night. He ended up snuggling next to Mokuba just to get to sleep that night.

_What can you see on the horizon?  
Why do the white gulls call?  
Across the sea, a pale moon rises.  
The ships have come to carry you home.  
And all will turn to silver glass  
A light on the water, grey ships pass  
Into the West._

Later that year, Jou had started up a romance with Otogi, or Otogi had started something with him. He had announced that he would be moving in with him to the gang and Seto, who had been hanging out with them and Mokuba whenever the younger Kaiba dragged him along, a few months before. The gang had thought that it was a good thing; that Jou needed something positive in his life, and that Otogi was pretty good about that. Tristan was a bit taken aback at first, but he got over it soon enough. After all, he had been living with the pair's gaga eyes for a few months previous to that, so it wasn't such a shocker.

Other than that, no one had much of a reaction other than happiness, besides for Seto, who had remained his stoic self, if not a little quieter than normal. But tonight as Jou sat on the edge of the dock, pleasantly enjoying some quiet time by himself, feeding the ducks, he had a foreboding feeling. He felt as if something was returning to his life in some way, and he wondered randomly how Seto was doing. He took out his phone, looked at the last message he had gotten from the elder Kaiba, on the day he had moved out of the mansion. _I'll always be here, _it read_. _It comforted Jou, though he didn't know why. Probably the solidity of the words, the stability they gave.

That night, Jou dreamed of moonlight and sailboats on undisturbed waters, and someone he couldn't quite see.


End file.
